Comcast said BJ Daisey has been named area vice president for Comcast California’s Sacramento Valley area, reporting to Marty Robinson, VP of operations for Comcast California. Daisey will oversee all aspects of Comcast’s operations in Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Chico, Oroville, Grass Valley, Marysville and Yuba City. He will be responsible for a team of 575 employees, and will oversee a key Northern California territory for Comcast.

Daisey, who will be based in the company’s Sacramento office, most recently served as the director of technical operations for Comcast’s West Division in Denver. In that role, he was responsible for leading the fulfillment and dispatch workforce for 6 million subscribers. He first joined Comcast in 1999 in Maryland as an install technician, and has previously held both supervisor and manager roles in Maryland and Fort Myers, Fla. Prior to joining the West Division, Daisey held the position of director of technical operations for Comcast’s operations in Savannah, Ga.

Charter Brings 185 HD Channels, Improved All-Digital Network

to Customers in Long Beach, Glendale and Burbank

Digital equipment for all TVs required beginning in August

Irwindale, CA

– Charter customers in Long Beach, Glendale and Burbank will soon enjoy access to 185 high definition (HD) channels – more HD than any satellite television provider in these communities* – as part of an all-digital upgrade to Charter’s Southern California network.

In August, Charter will begin clearing all analog signals from its local network, making way to add 80 new HD channels in Glendale and Burbank along with 79 new HD offerings in Long Beach. Customers in all three communities will have access to a total of 185 HD channels once Charter completes its move to an all-digital network in October.

“By removing outdated analog signals, we gain back a tremendous amount of bandwidth in our network,” said John Owen, vice president of Charter’s Southwest Region. “In the space we previously needed for a single analog channel, we can now provide multiple standard definition digital channels or HD channels. It’s a great opportunity for us to maximize value for our customers.”

Disney Junior, Hallmark Movie Channel, DIY Network, FX Movie Channel, CBS Sports Network and FOX Soccer are just a few of the new HD channels that will soon be available in crystal-clear digital picture and sound.

Plus, with digital set-top boxes, Charter customers will gain Video On Demand (VOD) access for every television in their homes. With more than 10,000 VOD options, including more than 1,800 HD titles, Charter is setting a new standard for digital video entertainment.

Customers must take action to ensure they continue receiving Charter programming on all of their televisions. Those not currently equipped with Charter-issued digital set-top boxes or CableCARDs must acquire them for each of their TVs; and Charter is making it easy for

“More than 93 percent of Charter customers in California have adopted digital devices for at least one television in their home,” said Jean Simmons, vice president and general manager for Charter in California. “Now, we can give customers in Long Beach, Glendale and Burbank even more of what they want – a superior digital image, better audio and a diverse selection of HD programming.”

*Excludes On Demand and Pay Per View

###

About Charter
Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR) is a leading broadband communications company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services, including advanced Charter TV® video entertainment programming, Charter Internet® access, and Charter Phone®. Charter Business® similarly provides scalable, tailored, and cost-effective broadband communications solutions to business organizations, such as business-to-business Internet access, data networking, business telephone, video and music entertainment services, and wireless backhaul. Charter’s advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media® brand. More information about Charter can be found at

Operator offering beta version of lower-priced flareWatch service with 97 channels, cloud DVR service and Fan TV set-top

Cox Communications is the first major U.S. pay TV operator to explicitly aim at cord-cutters, launching a test of a lower-priced TV and cloud DVR service in Orange County, Calif., delivered over its broadband pipes.

The operator’s flareWatch service is $34.99 per month, with access to 97 live channels and 30 hours of network DVR storage. The service is currently available to Cox broadband subscribers in the Orange County market.

The flareWatch service is part of “a small trial” in the area, according to Cox spokesman Todd Smith. “Results and customer feedback will determine if we proceed with future plans,” he said.

The Cox Internet TV service uses Fanhattan’s Fan TV set-top, which provides iPad-like navigation via a touch-sensitive remote control that has no buttons. Subscribers can connect up to three Fan TV boxes, which cost $99 each, to the service. While it’s unlikely that Cox or any other pay-TV provider will adopt the approach to deliver their primary TV services, Fan TV and similar boxes could find a home on the Internet streaming front.

FlareWatch does not provide access to over-the-top streaming-video services, such as Hulu or Netflix.

“Finally, a simpler, easier way to get the entertainment you love,” Cox says in a promo for the service.

Cord-cutting has been a growing concern among pay TV providers, which risk losing price-sensitive video subscribers who instead opt for free, over-the-air TV and cheaper streaming options like Netflix.

Ordinarily, to get most of those channels, subscribers must purchase Cox Advanced TV service with 300-plus channels, regularly priced at $63.99 per month.

Cox does offer a $24.99-per-month TV Economy package, but that excludes regional sports nets and most of the cable channels in the flareWatch lineup. Nets available in TV Economy include CNN, Nickelodeon, Discovery, History, Fox News, Food Network and USA.

While it is experimenting with Internet-delivered television, Cox is more focused on rolling out the personalized Trio video guide across all its markets along with a related tablet app for in-home streaming video, set to launch later this summer, according to Smith.

Cox’s Flare brand also includes “MyFlare,” a cloud-based media storage service the operator launched in April for hosting personal photos, videos, music and documents. Future offerings in the Flare family are slated to include streaming music and games, according to the MSO.

Privately held Cox is the third-biggest U.S. cable operator, with an estimated 4.5 million video customers.

Cox is providing demos of flareWatch at its five retail Solutions Stores in Orange County, according to the operator’s website.

According to Microsoft, Time Warner Cable’s channel offerings will include AMC, Bravo, Comedy Central, and CNN. The app will also work with voice controls through the company’s Kinect sensor.

Microsoft has been making a strong push into entertainment with its Xbox 360, and hopes to continue that with the upcoming Xbox One. Last month, the company showed off several entertainment-focused features in the next-generation Xbox One, including one that overlays the Xbox interface over live television. Microsoft has promised that the Xbox One will allow users to instantly switch betweenwatching live TV and playing a game.

Details are a tad bit slim on the Time Warner Cable integration at the moment. However, the companies have promised more details before the Time Warner Cable TV app launches in the Xbox Live Marketplace later this summer.

Search the CCTA Website

CCTA on Social Media

The California Channel

Funded entirely by California’s cable TV industry, The California Channel is a statewide non-profit public affairs cable television network providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of state government proceedings.